Strange Relations
by PrincessBellePrinceAdam
Summary: A Power Rangers AU. After a big battle, some secrets about the Green Ranger's family come to light.


_A/N: What if the team members were a different type of hero? The Young Justice team fits nicely into the typical archetypes of most Power Rangers teams, so I figured why not. There's not any actual action in this; it's more the aftermath of a big battle._

_I'm marking this as complete for now, but I have ideas to continue it if there is demand._

_Dick is the Red Ranger, Kaldur is the Blue Ranger, Wally is the Yellow Ranger, Conner is the Black Ranger, Megan is the Pink Ranger, and Artemis is the Green Ranger. Their mentors are a League of Rangers that work together. Much like in the show, the team is training to be Rangers and their mentors run an academy like program to show them the way things work._

_The Team is the same ages that they were in the first season. Megan's not a Martian and Conner isn't a clone._

_Also, please ignore my terrible, terrible title._

**Strange Relations**

Wally was hungry again.

They had warned him as he received the Yellow Ranger powers that because of his suit's enhancements, morphing would take a lot out of him. The main side effect of course being that he was hungry all the time.

Fortunately, with the Ranger League footing the bill, their base was always well stocked with all his favorite foods. And, Wally reasoned, he'd never be able to get to sleep on an empty stomach. Since he had a big test on Ranger History the next morning followed by training with Dinah Lance, one of the League's Black Rangers, it was important that he got a good night's sleep.

Pleased with his reasoning skills, the redhead swung his legs out of bed. He crossed his room and crept down the hall past his sleeping teammates into the kitchen area.

Wally mused over the day's events as he pulled ingredients for a sandwich out of the refrigerator. The alliance of villains that he and his fellow Rangers fought against, "The Light", had sent their own team to battle with them. The so-called "League of Shadows" had been tough opponents for their young, largely inexperienced team. Their victory had been a narrow one at best.

The fight had taken its toll on his teammates. Their Red Ranger, Dick, had glared at the floor on their trip back to the base. Kaldur, the Blue Ranger, had tried to point out to the younger boy that the battle had had a good outcome because no one was hurt and Happy Harbor hadn't been too badly damaged, but Dick hadn't listened.

Dick, nicknamed Robin because of the abilities his suit gave him, was the youngest Red in history. Before coming to the academy, he had trained for years under one the Ranger League's Black Rangers, known simply as "The Bat." The fact that their team had been so close to a devastating defeat reflected badly on him. Robin had a lot of pressure on him and constantly worried that he was not ready to be a Red.

It all seemed like too much of a burden to Wally. All his life, Wally had looked up to the Power Rangers and wanted to be one, just like his Uncle Barry. His uncle was one of the Ranger League's Reds and his suit had powers similar to Wally's, though at a much more advanced level that allowed him to vibrate through solid objects.

He knew that one day he would probably take over his uncle's Red Ranger powers, but until then he just wanted to have some fun with his friends while he learned the ropes. Wally definitely did not want the responsibility of leading a young team and trying to live up to the League's high expectations at this point in his life.

Wally put the finishing touches on his sandwich and cut it in half. He added a good sized pile of his favorite barbecue flavored potato chips and tucked a water bottle under his arm. Satisfied with his midnight snack, the Yellow Ranger started down the hallway towards his room.

But as he turned out of the kitchen, Wally noticed a flash of blonde hair rounding the corner. His green eyes narrowed automatically. He and Artemis, the Green Ranger, had never gotten along. That probably had something to do with the fact that he'd tripped over his feet during their first meeting and that she'd immediately made fun of him for it. Learning that she had been chosen to take on the Green Ranger powers instead of Roy Harper hadn't exactly helped Wally warm up to his Green counterpart.

He remembered that after today's battle, the blonde girl had seemed kind of blank, like she was somewhere else. While the other members of their team had been upset and fretted over the day's events quietly, Artemis hadn't said a single word to any of them. She'd disappeared into her room when they'd arrived at base and Wally hadn't seen her since. That suited him just fine.

Being a man of science, he was naturally curious about a lot of things. For the first time, Wally found that he was curious about his teammate. He wondered if she was alright. He followed in the blonde girl's footsteps towards the base's gym facilities.

Artemis stood on the mat near the punching bag. She aimed punches and kicks at it over and over again. The blonde girl landed a perfect blow every time. As he watched, Wally noticed that Artemis repeated the same pattern of kicks and punches over and over again, almost as if it were some kind of drill that had been engrained into her long ago. Wally had never really paid attention to how his teammate fought. The Yellow Ranger could see that her movements were fluid and graceful. It didn't quite match his view of Artemis.

"Stupid," she said as she took another swing at the bag. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." Each time she spoke, another blow accompanied the word. Then she stopped her work out altogether. Artemis peeled off her jade green tank top and wiped sweat from her face with one of the towels that were stocked in the gym. "You freeze up when you see him. You forget your training. It's just like when you were a kid…"

Wally had no idea what the blonde girl was referring to. The Green Ranger sure didn't seem like she was alright. The fight today had clearly affected her more than she'd let on.

Artemis threw her towel aside and launched herself at the punching bag with a savage roar. The perfect form that she had displayed earlier had been abandoned entirely and the Green Ranger simply attacked the punching bag with everything she had. She landed a lot of hits and the bag swung wildly on its chain.

Finally, Artemis sunk to her knees. She picked up the towel again and pressed it to her face.

The redhead was a little torn on what to do. On one hand, he didn't necessary want to be around Artemis when she was in this kind of mood. She was clearly more than willing to fight, and Wally's super speed didn't work outside of his suit, so he would probably have a hard time getting away. Wally definitely didn't want to end up like the punching bag.

But on the other hand, Artemis _was_ his teammate whether he liked it or not. Teammates were supposed to have each other's backs. The Yellow Ranger thought of his wholesome, Midwestern upbringing and how his parents had always taught him to help people in any way that he could, especially girls. Wally imagined how horrified his mother would be if he turned his back on Artemis now and he knew he had no other choice.

The Yellow Ranger took a deep breath. He walked into the gym and set his food aside before he very carefully crossed over to his blonde teammate. Wally knelt beside her and hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder.

Artemis pulled away from his touch immediately. She removed the towel from her face. When she saw that it was him beside her, her features twisted into a snarl. "What do _you _want?" she snapped.

Ordinarily, Wally would have had some equally rude answer for the Green Ranger. But as much as he hated to admit it, the redhead was really worried about his teammate. He forced himself to remain calm. He met her gaze head on. "Are you okay?" the Yellow Ranger inquired. "Do you want me to go get Megan or something?"

Wally wasn't stupid. He knew that he had to be pretty low on the list of people that Artemis would be willing to spill her guts to. The Pink Ranger, on the other hand, was easily Artemis's best friend on the team. The two girls always had their heads together laughing about something or other. If Artemis would want to talk to anyone, it was Megan.

"She's not here," Artemis said. "I heard her and Conner trying to sneak out a few hours ago. They aren't exactly stealthy."

The green clad girl said this casually, but he could see a bit of malice sparkling in her eyes. It was no secret that Wally had a crush on the Pink Ranger. He'd been trying to impress Megan for ages but she'd never really seemed to return his feelings.

The more he thought about it though, the more Wally realized that Conner and Megan made sense. They spent a lot of time together. He remembered seeing Megan run to the Black Ranger's side during fights and how Conner always seemed to angle his body in front of Megan very protectively. The Yellow Ranger let out a dejected sigh.

Something in Artemis's face softened. "Did you really not know?" the blonde girl asked. "I mean, they aren't very good at keeping secrets. It's been pretty obvious to the rest of us for awhile."

"Nah, I think I knew. I just hoped that maybe I was wrong." Wally shrugged and looked back at his Green counterpart. "But we aren't talking about me. What's wrong with _you_? Why are you training in the middle of the night?" The redhead tried his best not to sound accusatory.

The softness in Artemis's expression vanished, her face stony once more. "I just can't sleep is all. Don't worry about me." She got to her feet once more and crossed the room to where her practice archery equipment was stored.

The bow and arrow was the Green Ranger's primary weapon in battle. That was her special skill, just as Wally's was his suit's super speed. Obviously, Artemis could not summon her Power Weapon while out of her Ranger uniform, but that did not stop her from practicing with a standard bow.

The red haired boy admittedly did not know much about archery, but he could see that she was good, maybe even better than Roy. It was pretty obvious to Wally that his blonde teammate had a skill with this weapon that came from outside of being a Ranger. The suits made using their various powers, weapons, and piloting their Zords second nature, but Artemis's abilities were clearly more than that.

She fired off another arrow at the practice dummy. The arrow hit the target painted over where the dummy's heart would be dead center. He saw Artemis allow a smile to flit over her face for a brief moment. Wally noticed for the first time that Artemis was actually very pretty when she wasn't scowling. He wasn't sure he liked the fact that he noticed that.

Artemis seemed to have realized that he had not left the gym yet. "What?" she demanded. "I told you I'm fine. Go to bed."

"Okay," the Yellow Ranger replied, shrugging. He had tried, at least. If Artemis wanted to continue keeping secrets and be alone to brood, that was her choice.

Wally got to his feet and crossed the gym. He collected his food and was just steps away from leaving when Artemis spoke. "Wally!" she called.

It occurred to the young hero that his Green counterpart had never really called him by his given name before. She usually referred to him as West when she had to address him at all. That fact alone told him that Artemis had changed her mind about talking. And since he was the only one around, he'd just have to be the one who listened.

The Yellow Ranger turned back to his blonde teammate. He didn't say anything. The redhead saw Artemis suck in a deep breath before directing her stormy gray gaze towards the floor. Some of her long golden locks fell forward and she pushed them back, still not looking at him. "Can I trust you?" she asked eventually. Her voice sounded very small. Given that Artemis was usually loud and sarcastic and blunt, Wally guessed that whatever she was going to say was very serious.

"Of course you can," Wally told her gently. And it was true. It was long past time to end the animosity between them, and he knew it. This was a step in the right direction.

Artemis straightened up. She plucked the towel from the floor and wiped her face again before padding across the mats to the bench on the opposite wall. Wally followed after the blonde girl and folded himself onto the bench beside her.

She didn't speak right away. Wally watched Artemis chew her bottom lip as she tried to find the right words. Wally picked up half of his sandwich and took a bite, partly to help set Artemis at ease knowing he wasn't just staring at her and partly because he was still really hungry.

Finally, Artemis spoke up. "You know how today we fought against the League of Shadows?" she asked, glancing up at him. Not wanting to talk with a mouthful of turkey sandwich, the Yellow Ranger settled for nodding in response to his Green counterpart. "You know the general who was directing the fighters? Called himself Sportsmaster?"

Wally had to think for a moment. But then the image of a tall man with blond hair and a gray hockey mask appeared in his mind's eye. The man had clearly been the subject of some gruesome experiments if his hulking figure and superior strength were anything to go by. The redhead nodded again.

Artemis sucked in a deep breath and her shoulders slouched sadly. "Sportsmaster's my dad," the Green Ranger told him. Her voice was very small again. There was shame in her eyes.

Wally just about choked on his sandwich. He forced the bite down and had a small coughing fit before managing to take a few sips from his water bottle. By the time the Yellow Ranger could breathe properly again, his Green counterpart was glaring daggers at him.

"No wonder I try to keep that little piece of info a secret," Artemis muttered. "People don't react well."

The redhead frowned. It wasn't like he had _meant_ to choke. It hadn't exactly been a pleasant experience. "Hey," he murmured to the blonde girl, "that's not what I meant. To be honest, I always kind of thought that Ollie was your dad." It wasn't like he spent a lot of time thinking about Artemis's origins, but it made sense to him. The older Green Ranger frequently trained with Artemis and it was him who had recommended her for their team.

Artemis looked at him with wide gray eyes. "I'm 15, Wally," she said, "and Ollie is 32. You do the math."

That was certainly still possible, but a lot less likely. "I didn't know, okay? It makes more sense than Sportsmaster being your dad. And isn't he, you know, a mutant or something?"

"He wasn't always," Artemis said bitterly. "He used to be a regular guy, with a family…He always wanted my sister and I to be athletic. We learned gymnastics and we played soccer, basketball, softball, hockey…you name it, we played it. Jade, my sister, was pretty hopeless at archery, but my dad saw potential in me so he kept training me in that, too. He was strict, but we were happy for the most part. And then he decided that everything we had wasn't enough. So he sold himself to the Light so they could do those experiments on him."

Wally was frozen as he saw Artemis raise a shaking hand to her face and wipe away a tear. He slid his arm around Artemis's shoulders, suddenly very conscious of the fact that the top half of her body was clad only in a sports bra.

The blonde girl glanced over at him with gratefulness in her eyes. The Yellow Ranger was pretty sure she'd never looked at him that way before. Artemis kept talking. "The worst part is that he wanted us to join him. He actually _wanted_ my sister and me to end up like that. What kind of monster wants that for his kids?" Artemis wiped her face with the back of her hand. "My sister decided he was right. She let the Light do experiments on her, too. She…she's not my sister anymore." The Green Ranger let out a sigh, looking wistful. "Things would have been a lot simpler if Ollie _was_ my dad."

Wally understood now why his Green Ranger never talked about her family. He also had an idea of why she acted the way she did: impulsive, brash, and always with that chip on her shoulder.

"Hey, Artemis," he began slowly, "your family isn't why you act the way you do, is it? Because, to me and to the rest of the team, you _don't _have anything to prove, okay?"

And it was true. While they didn't always get along, Artemis was a valuable asset to their team. She gave them a definite advantage in battle. And, occasional recklessness and selfishness aside, she was more of a team player than Roy had ever been. The older boy tended to be overdramatic and a bit too wrapped up in himself. But Artemis, he knew, was a member of their team through and through. Wally was certain she'd be just as willing to lay down her life for theirs just like any other person on their team.

"Yes, I do!" Artemis insisted. "Somewhere in me is something that would have chosen to be like my sister and my dad. I could have been just like them. So yeah, I have to prove to myself that I'm not." She scowled then and shrugged his arm off of her shoulders. "I don't expect _you_ to understand," Artemis added darkly.

Wally rotated his torso and gripped his teammate's shoulders. He turned her to face him. Artemis's expression was still sullen. "I don't think it's in you," he told his blonde companion seriously. "If it was, you would be with your father and sister right now instead of with us. You made your choice, and it was the right one. You're a Ranger, Artemis. You belong here."

The Green Ranger just looked at him dubiously. "You really think that?" she asked. Wally nodded encouragingly. "You're being really nice," Artemis said. There was suspicion in her tone.

"Well, maybe I think it's time we got past that," the Yellow Ranger said. "I mean, yeah, Roy is a good friend of mine, but he chose a different path. You're part of this team, not him. And I might hate to admit it, but I probably owe you my life."

Artemis considered his words. Then she nodded. "I probably owe you mine, too." The blonde girl drew away from his hold again and folded her legs so that her knees were in front of her. She wrapped her arms around her legs and turned her face away from him again. "It's my worst nightmare, you know," Artemis murmured. "That I turn out to be more like my father than I want to."

"I'm not going to let that happen," Wally replied. His tone was so firm and insistent that Artemis turned her stormy gray gaze back to his and gaped at him.

The Yellow Ranger felt his cheeks turn red. "I mean, _we_ won't let that happen. You're a Ranger. We take care of our own." Feeling very foolish, Wally picked up the remainder of the sandwich he'd been eating. He tried to focus on eating and not the smirk that the Green Ranger currently wore.

She chose not to tease him, however. "You can be pretty smart when you're not being obnoxious," Artemis informed him. The blonde girl seized the half of the sandwich he hadn't eaten from yet and took a bite. When she'd swallowed, she said, "This is pretty good, West. You know, I think we _finally _found something that you're good at."

Wally just rolled his bright green eyes at his teammate's comment. Artemis smiled at him and again the redhead noticed that she was actually very pretty. He tried to push the thought away.

"Can I ask you something?" Artemis asked suddenly. A little taken aback, Wally just nodded. "If you really thought that Ollie was my dad, where did you think I was all the times you were hanging out with Roy?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I don't know," he said slowly. The redhead grinned at her. "Playing with dolls, maybe?"

Artemis looked at him flatly. "I don't have to be morphed to kick your ass, West," she muttered.

Wally burst out laughing. "I know you don't," the Yellow Ranger said. "I saw what you did to the punching bag."

"The punching bag had it coming," Artemis said, but she smiled.

The base's computer voice suddenly announced that Conner and Megan had returned. He heard Megan laughing in the distance. Artemis unfolded herself from the bench and crossed the room, pausing to pick up her tank top and slip it back over her head. She turned the lights in the gym off and stood in the doorway with her back to him. Wally got up and joined the Green Ranger. He got to Artemis's side just in time to watch Megan and Conner disappear into Conner's room.

"I'm glad they didn't notice we were in here," Artemis murmured. "I don't want to hear Megan gush about what a cute couple she thinks we'd made." Artemis turned her stormy gray gaze towards him. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked. She jerked her heard back towards Conner and Megan. "That's gotta be hard."

Wally shrugged. Sure, he did have a big crush on his Pink Ranger but it was just a crush. It wasn't like he'd been daydreaming about living happily ever after. Besides, Conner was a good guy. He'd keep Megan safe and make sure she was happy. That was all Wally could want for his teammates.

The Yellow Ranger could tell that the Green Ranger did not buy this. She continued to stare at him. "I don't think it's you," Artemis said finally. "Girls like Megan are attracted to guys like Conner because they want to be the one to fix things for him. That's just how they are. But I don't think it's anything that you personally did that made her choose him over you."

"Thanks, Artemis." Wally grinned at her. "You know, I think that might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Yeah, well, don't let it get out. I have a reputation to uphold," the blonde girl grumbled. She let out a big yawn. "I think it's time for bed. Night, Wally."

He realized that he wasn't quite ready to part with her yet. Revelations about her family aside, they'd kind of had a pleasant time together for once. "Hang on a sec," he implored. He padded quickly across the gym to where his now-empty plate sat and picked it up. Artemis followed after him as he made his way to the kitchen and deposited the plate in the sink.

Together, the two made their way down the corridor where the team's bedrooms were located. They came to Artemis's door first. She entered the pass code for her room and the door opened with a _whooshing_ sound. The Green Ranger, however, lingered outside in the hall. She looked like she wanted to say something but no words came out.

Wally did what he did best: lighten the mood. He reached out to gently tug a handful of Artemis's long golden locks. "So how do you fit all this hair inside your helmet?"

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Goodnight, Wally," the Green Ranger said firmly. She retreated into her room but quickly poked her head out again. She put a hand on his arm. "And thank you for listening," Artemis added.

He grinned again. "We bonded. Admit it."

"_Goodnight_, Wally," his blonde teammate said again. She moved back into the room and the door slid shut once more.

Wally turned and made his way down the hall to his own room. He crawled back under his yellow covers and stared up at the ceiling. The things he'd learned about Artemis ran through his mind. Something had changed between them, that much was clear. He knew they'd fight Sportsmaster again and it would probably come soon. It wasn't something that Wally looked forward to, knowing what he knew now.

He thought about Artemis's desire to prove herself and decided that he'd just have to follow her lead.


End file.
